世論 What Japan Thinks

With almost every day bringing a new revelation about how TEPCO failed to release data in a timely manner, and how the government is trying to protect TEPCO or itself rather than kicking ass and taking names, this survey from iShare into nuclear-related information from the government found that not surprisingly, many, many people are dissatisfied.

Demographics

On the 15th of April 2011 1,193 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 8.9% in their twenties, 45.7% in their thirties, and 45.4% in their forties. People from the disaster-affected areas were not surveyed.

Note that this survey was conducted over a month ago, and I suspect if it were repeated today the figures would be even further down the scales of trust and speed, as this week we have finally had official notification that there was a meltdown, despite all evidence pointing towards some degree of fuel rod melting and two months of most commentators agreeing that there had been.
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A not-too-surprising result from a poll from Gallup International conducted in 47 different countries is that overall support for nuclear power dropped from about 25% in favour to just 6%. Note that I cannot find the survey on Gallup International web site, but instead there is a truncated result on a Pakistan affiliate’s web site, then another blog post also from Pakistan.

On a more positive note, 38% are pessimistic about Japan recovering, but 30% expect it to return to the same level, and 18% for it to get stronger. I’m personally half in the 18% camp and half in the 30%; I’d be more optimistic if the government could get its act together, or step aside and let someone more competent lead, but at the moment there’s a definite shortage of people less useless than Naoto Kan.

The blog post also notes that:

Notably the conservative or pessimistic view on resilience of the economy comes from within Japan itself where 55% are somewhat skeptical and its close neighbors, South Korea, where 47% hold this view and China where 67% are pessimistic. These views may reflect a modesty in the Japanese and East Asian cultures about what they can achieve.

For Japan, it’s perhaps that the Japanese are too aware of the current leadership of the country, and as both South Korea and China are not exactly the best of friends with Japan I wouldn’t really expect the average person to be cheering for Japan.